A network of commandos and spies coordinates the flow of weapons in Ukraine

WASHINGTON – As Russian troops advance in a devastating campaign to take control of eastern Ukraine, the nation’s ability to withstand attacks depends more than ever on help from the United States and its allies (including a stealth commando network [grupos de tropas de choque que hacen incursiones ofensivas en terreno enemigo] Y spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training, according to US and European officials).

Much of this work occurs outside Ukraine; For example, on bases in Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

However, despite the fact that the Biden administration has stated that it will not deploy US troops to Ukraine; Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel continued to operate secretly in the country, mainly in the capital, Kyiv, where they operate a huge amount intelligence that the United States shares with Ukrainian forces, according to current and former officials.

At the same time, a few dozen commandos from other NATO countries, including the UK, France, Canada and Lithuania, also worked inside Ukraine.

united states rhe brought out his 150 military instructors before the war began in February, but since then those allied commandos have remained or have been in and out of the country to train and advise Ukrainian troops and provide conducted ashore for weapons and other aid, three US officials said.

Few details have been revealed about what CIA personnel or commandos are doing, but their presence in the country (aside from diplomatic members who returned after Russia lifted the siege of Kiev) is an indication of the ladder of the covert effort to help the developing Ukraine and of the rrisks paid by Washington and its allies.

Ukraine it has even fewer weapons that Russia and, on Saturday, Moscow forces launched a missile strike against targets across the country, including areas of the north and west who hadn’t been hit in the past few weeks.

The president of the United States is expected Joe Bidenand leaders of allied countries will hold talks on further support for Ukraine at a meeting of the Group of Seven of industrialized nations starting Sunday in Germany and a NATO summit in Spain later this week.

Evolution

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the 10th Army Special Forces Group, which had trained Ukrainian commandos at a base in the west of the country before the war, set up Germany covertly a coalition planning cell to coordinate military assistance to Ukrainian commandos and multiple Ukrainian servicemen.

The cell has now grown and participates in it twenty nations.

Secretary of the Army Christine Wormout, he offered a look at the operation last month, commenting that the special operations cell helped manage the flow of weapons and equipment into Ukraine.

“As the Ukrainians try to move it and evade the Russians who are potentially trying to attack the convoys, you know, we try to help coordinate the movement of those different types of cargo,” the official said at a security event organized by the Atlantic Council. .

Wormuth added:

“Another thing we can help with is intelligence where the threats to those convoys might be.

The cell, which was modeled after a facility used in Afghanistan, is part of a larger set of intelligence and operational coordination cells run by the Pentagon’s European Command to accelerate Allied assistance to Ukrainian troops.

For example, at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, a US Air Force and Air National Guard team called Gray Wolf (grey Wolf) provides support, including tactics and techniques, to Ukrainian aviation, a military communications person said.

Commandos are not on the war front with Ukrainian troops, rather Recommend from the neighborhoodl in other parts of the country or remotely via encrypted communications, according to US and Western officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity when discussing operational matters.

However, the signs of its stealthy logistics, intelligence training and support are tangible on the battlefield.

A number of lower-ranking Ukrainian commanders have recently voiced theirs gratitude in the United States for intelligence obtained through satellite images, which they can examine on laptop-tablet computers provided by allies.

The tablets run a battlefield mapping app that Ukrainians use to locate their targets and attack Russian troops.

On a street in Bakhmut, a city in the disputed Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, a group of Ukrainian special forces wore American flag patches on their gear and were equipped with new portable surface-to-air missilesas well as Belgian and American assault rifles.

Jonathan Braga, lieutenant general and commander of the US Army’s special operations command, told senators in April to describe the planning cell:

“What has not yet been revealed is the international alliance with the special forces of a multitude of countries. They completely bonded have a much greater impact ”, in order to support Ukraine’s military and special forces.

CIA agents operating in Ukraine have focused on the intelligence direction that the US government has provided to the Ukrainian government.

Much of his work has been in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, according to current and former officials.

Although the US government does not recognize that the CIA operates in Ukraine or any other country, the presence of its agents is understandable for Russia and other intelligence services around the world.

However, the training experience of the agency is in ccounter-insurgency and counter-terrorismsay former intelligence officials.

What Ukrainians need immediately is training classic military on how to use missile artillery, such as the High Mobility Artillery Missile System (HIMARS) and other sophisticated weapons, said Douglas Wise, former Deputy Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and a retired senior CIA agent.

Pentagon officials say a first group of 60 Ukrainian military personnel have been trained in the use of the systems and a second is now undergoing training in Germany.

Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the training began in a “rational and deliberate” way, as Ukrainians, who have historically used Soviet-era systems, they learn the mechanics of America’s most technological weapons.

“It’s not just about putting those systems on the battlefield,” Milley told reporters who traveled with him on a recent flight back to the United States after meetings with European military leaders in France.

After a meeting in Brussels this month, Milley and military leaders for almost fifty countries they pledged to increase the flow of advanced artillery and other weapons into Ukraine.

Milley pointed out: “This all takes some time and requires a lot of effort.”

The US military needs it six to eight weeks to learn how to use the systems, but the Ukrainians have a two-week intensive learning program, he concluded.

Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Andrew E. Kramer contributed reports from Ukraine.

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